View full sizeElizabeth Lumbert of Midland sells light-up souvenirs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Great Lakes Bay Region on Main in Midland on New Year's Eve.Rachel Sonnenshine | MLive.com

BAY CITY, MI — Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Great Lakes Bay Region has launched a campaign to match 1,000 volunteers and local children while raising $100,000.

The initiative that kicked off in November will run for at least a year and is looking to partner brand new “Bigs” and "Littles.”

The average cost of matching a “Little” and “Big” is about $1,000, officials said.

Before June 2012, the Great Lakes Bay Region hosted two agencies of Big Brother Big Sisters. The organizations since then have been operating under one roof to serve the entire Great Lakes Bay Region, which includes the Bay, Saginaw, Midland and Isabella counties.

Executive Director Susan Putnam is looking to almost double the 560 pairs of mentors and youths they matched last year.

“We spend a lot of time getting to know mentors and learning about their interest and the kind of kid they want to be linked up with,” Putnam said. “Then we do the same thing with the child, so that we put two people together that like each other and want to be together.”

The screening process for potential volunteers includes fingerprinting, a driving record review, and three character references. Organizers also interview potential candidates and conduct home visits for all parties involved.

“Being sure that we make the right match is the hardest part. Most of the time, we have a little, and we might not have the right volunteer at the moment,” Putnam said. “We also have a wait list just in case we don’t have the right person at that moment. That’s why this process is important, so that we can match these kids with volunteers.”

For volunteers like Bay City’s Sara Keysor, 29, the screening process can take a few months. When the teacher decided to join the program, it took her five months to be matched with her current little.

“I’ve wanted to be involved for a while but didn’t think I had enough time to do it and didn’t think I could commit this much time,” Keysor said. “But I heard about it through a radio program from the local chapter, and they explained it, and I figured it was the perfect time to do it.”

Keysor was matched with Maranda Douglas, 12, a fifth-grader at MacGregor Elementary School in Bay City. Douglas is the daughter of Michelle Douglas and Mark Manszewski of Bay City.

Both Keysor and Douglas admit to feeling nervous the first time they met, but that faded because of their similar interest in doing crafts.

“They set you up with someone who likes the same things you like,” Keysor said. “We always do (crafts). It’s our common ground.”

The two enjoy watching movies together such as “Despicable Me” and “Brave,” and are working on a scrapbooking project. While Douglas has been in the program for about a year, it was her mother’s past experience that introduced her to it.

“My mama had a Big Sister when she was little,” Douglas said. “She thought it would be good for me to have one, too.”